Up-to-the-minute advice, information, resources, and, on occasion, commentary on federal and New Jersey state income taxes, and the various New Jersey property tax rebate programs, and insights and observations on tax policy and professional tax practice, by 40-year veteran tax professional Robert D Flach.

“The Internal Revenue Service has reportedly
posted the Social Security numbers of tens of thousands of people on the
Internet before taking down the information when a whistleblower pointed out
the mistake.”

“While life insurance proceeds received on
the death of the insured are tax free, you may owe taxes when you cash in the
policy early. What’s taxable: the excess of the cash surrender value over the
premiums you paid. The insurance company can provide you with this information
before you take any action.”

* I
have been saying this for many years now – “Don’t Toss Your Tax Returns”.It seems that Kimberly Lankford of
KIPLINGERS.COM agrees with me, proving that great minds do think alike.

“. . . there are plenty of reasons to keep
your tax returns indefinitely and no reason not to.”

One
reason not mentioned by Kimberly – as a record of your personal financial
history.

* Interested
in the “Vital Statistics on Congress”?A
joint effort from Brookings and the American Enterprise Institute by Norman J.
Ornstein, Thomas E. Mann, Michael J. Malbin and Andrew Rugg provides such
statistics.

FYI,
from the category “Legislative Productivity in Congress & Workload – during
the 112th Congress (2011-2012) 6,845 bills were introduced in the
House and 561 were actually passed.The
numbers for the Senate were 3,767 introduced and 364 passed.This is the lowest number of bills passed by
the House since 1947 (when the statistical analysis begins).The only time the number of bills passed by
the Senate were lower was the 111th Congress – when the number was
176.

“First, under no circumstances should
Republicans agree to make the tax system even more progressive than it already
is, or to increase the number of people who do not pay income taxes. In 1980,
the top 1% and 5% of income earners in America paid 19.1% and 36.9% of total
federal income taxes. Today, the top 1% and 5% pay 37.4% and 59.1%. Meanwhile,
41.6% of American earners now pay no federal income taxes.”

“The New York State Department of Taxation
and Finance outsourced the responsibility of refunding money to a new
contractor this year and many taxpayers who filed paper-based returns still
have not received their refunds.”

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(1) Before contacting me with questions about how a blog post relates to your specific situation, please be aware that I do not give free tax advice to non-clients by e-mail, comment response, or phone. So don't waste your time and mine.

(2) I am winding down my tax practice, and I will not, under any circumstances, accept any new clients. Period. I am actually trying to "thin the herd".